why pentax is better?

How is the move to Oly working out Huw?

Fine thanks Rob, you have a PM

I think robbie has summed it up nicely. I might like a Canon TS lens, but I couldn't afford it, and if I could I would buy a body to go with it. For all my other photographic needs, Pentax and Horseman have it covered.

It is also very nice to be able to use older glass without many problems (naff metering is the only one really). Imagine buying a top-of-the-range Canon and then having to shave a bit off the mirror in order to use your favourite M42 lenses? Makes me shudder to think of it but that is what some people do! And then of course I get M42 lenses with shake reduction too. Result as far as I am concerned. The micro 4/3s people get to be able to use a huge range of older glass including lots of class glass made for rangefinders, but there is the 2x crop factor making wide angles an issue I guess.

I'll shut up now as I am rambling.

Best wishes, Kris.

Kris, wide is still pretty achievable with m4/3, Oly has just released the 9-18 for m4/3 and in the case of 4/3 there is the lovely 7-14 which I have recently invested in

They sound pretty wide I was thinking more of old glass fans where the choice of anything that wide is extremely limited and probably expensive! Of the 'other makes' Oly is the one which peeks my interest. The older Oly film bodies were on a par with the Pentax M series and the new Pen series looks rather nice too. I'll have to steer clear though, LBA is bad enough with only one make to feed...

K.

Well there is that....

"Want to see what this lower level of hell looks like?"

Blimey pentaxophile !! You might have put a warning by the link !!

Need a drink now

Tony

I think that too many people spend their time instigating a camera manufacturer war rather than concentrating on getting their photography right. The equipment really is a tool for you to use to reach your end goal.
About four years ago when Pentax released their K10D, WDC magazine gave it a superb review and score, at the time I wanted a Nikon D200 but that was £800.00 body only which I could not afford and Warehouse Express were doing a special offer on the K10D Plus kit lens plus Battery Grip plus 1GB Sandisk Extreme III SD card all for £615.00 so after seeing the review I purchased one and I have to say I was thrilled with it.
Recently I saw a hardly used brand new condition Nikon D200 for £440.00 and got to thinking "I wonder if I mised out on anything there" so I bought it and the new Nikon 18-200 VRII lens with the intention of passing it on to my wife to replace her little Nikon D40 when I go to Full Frame.
The camera sat there for a few months hardly touched while I waited for more pleasing weather to arrive until finally a long weekend in Hunstanton came along - a chance to put the D200 through its paces.
Well I remember a pro photographer saying "you have to remember that the D200 is a professional camera as opposed to the semi-pro K10D" and just setting it up shows that - the amount of available setup options is incredible.
Well the two cameras are of similar spec but I'm affraid thats where it ends, when I tried out the D200 last week I was blown away by the Nikon's image quality, lost for words in fact and that was just using a 18-200 zoom lens, and to think it's now old technology.
I don't regret buying my Pentax K10D - I've had many a good time with it but I'm affraid for Pentax as many user forums are concerned about how far Pentax are dropping behind since the move to digital.
I think the important thing to remember is :-
Buy less equipment
Buy better equipment
Buy the equipment that you need (not a bag of hardly used lenses)
Kind Regards all - Michael.

Well, its funny that you say "too many people spend their time instigating a camera manufacturer war rather than concentrating on getting their photography right" before going on to seemingly do just that. I also wonder how much of the difference between your K10D and D200 were due the lenses. If you were using the mark 1 kit lens, it wouldn't really be surprising that it is beaten by a brand new Nikon superzoom. Also were you shooting jpeg - you did have to shoot RAW to get the best out of earlier Pentaxes, although this has been rectified on the current models I believe.

As far as Pentax 'dropping behind the rest', I have not seen this opinion raised as a general point in any actual reviews of Pentax's latest SLRs. In fact in the areas where Pentax traditionally fares slightly worse - AF and exposure metering - they seem to have made real improvements recently, although still not quite there yet! In the core Pentax areas of IQ, ergonomics, and value, the current models are particularly strong at the moment.

Interesting post Michael
I agree with Will, reading your post it seems you are doing the very thing that you say we should guard against.
Will also has a very valid point in that you were very likely not playing on a 'level field' with each camera.

Mike-P
There is a look to Pentax lenses. It is the lens rendering that really makes the difference. Even M lenses look good on either film or digital bodies.

Others have spoken of (early 70's) lenses being still compatible. All lenses with K bayonet mount can be used on any Pentax K mount SLR. The caveats are: First: if there is no "A" position on the aperture dial, Av is available only wide open and M must be used to allow the lens to stop down. You also have to enable the aperture ring. Second: Only very late film cameras can use a lens that does not have an aperture ring (except at minimum aperture). Third: A DA lens may not cover the entire frame when used on a film camera, leading to terrible vignetting, but you can crop to the DA frame, and get the same results if you, for example, would like to compare your favourite DSLR to your MZ-S film camera with Fuji Velvia.

For those who really complain about digital noise, this would be an interesting exercise: use the same lens on both cameras, shoot the digital (even my K10D) at ISO 1600, then shoot Fuji's ISO 1600 colour print film with the same lens and image.

However, with a relatively inexpensive piece of metal, the Pentax M42 - K adaptor - all screw mount lenses back to 1957 can be used. With another very hard to find M39 - M42 adaptor installed in the M42 - K adaptor you can use Asahiflex lenses as well. The Asahiflex was a single lens reflex without the prism to allow eye level viewing (Pentaprism + Asahiflex = Asahi Pentax), and was Pentax DSLR's Great Grandfather.

Hi, sorry if you mistook what my post above was saying. The view was offered simply by being an owner of two different manufacturers.
The very first post which I read on page one where the user stated that his friend said he should buy a Nikon as it is an investment is a very contentious issue. This is a Pentax website and for that reason it will always lean towards positive Pentax comments regardless of how good any other manufacturer may be, other manufacturers sites do the same.
About two years ago WDC magazine ran a monthly series called "buying into a system" where each month they reviewed a different manufacturer and the equipment/accessories available for them. It was a fantastic read and really shows how much has been made available by each of the manufactures. This is the sort of article that people should get to read before purchasing any DSLR.
As for the Nikon superzoom, it is just an 18-200mm zoom lens - there is only so much quality that you can get from a lens with so much focal length in it - I bought it because it will be so useful to my wife when she receives the camera later in the year.
It was the the metering in awkward light and the incredible tonal range that amazed me on the D200.
As for me I'm 46 years old and I want to buy one last camera - a full frame as landscape is my main interest, I shall just have to wait and see what comes out in the next six months, but I fear it will not be a Pentax - I do still have my K10D and get a little use out of it.
Anyway don't throw too many bricks at me lol, I gotta go clothes shopping now for my Daughter's wedding so I'll log on later.
Kind regards all - Michael.

Well, if like me you like prime lenses here is one kind of comparison from SRS:

Nikon 20mm, 35mm, 50mm, 85mm, 105mm macro = £1962.99

Pentax 21mm, 35mm macro, 50mm, 70mm, 100mm macro = £2208.99

You could save a bit on Pentax by choosing the 40mm instead of the 35mm, but then you could save quite a bit more on Nikon by going for 24mm instead of 20mm and choosing one of their less expensive 35mm and 50mm lenses. This is for APS-C though some of the Nikon primes are full-framers. If you go for the top Pentax FA limited primes - 31mm, 43mm, 77mm - then the gap becomes immense. Some of the Pentax lenses are full-framers too, of course, but Pentax don't have a full-frame body whereas Nikon have several.

I'm a little puzzled as to how Pentax can justify this price premium. I know folks will say that Pentax is backwards-compatible with lots of inexpensive but very good lenses from yesteryear, but selling to the "old guard" isn't going to keep Pentax in business. In fact it's a dead end. Pentax needs a Man with a Plan about going forwards and it is quite hard to see one.

So for me, I'll admit the grass is getting greener over the fence. Shooting to raw using a k-x and some limiteds is a superb combo for me, but it is increasingly "at a price" in terms both of cost and flexibility (upgrading a body to full frame). I'd really expect to pay more to use Nikon lenses, not less. Surprising.

I love my new to me K100D sold my Nikon D3000 for it.It takes all my old glass from my spotty has stop down metering anti shake built into the camera The consumer grade nikons d40 up to d5000 don't offer these. I know my K100d it not a pro model but it has some of the features of the higher end nikons and canons plus you can't say the lenses are hard to find ebay has a slew of them nothing like the old glass P.S New to the site thank you

Mecrox - presumably the premium is due to the 'star' limited construction.